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3232105479758How Will GDPR Affect US Marketers?http://curatti.com/gdpr-will-affect-us-marketers/
http://curatti.com/gdpr-will-affect-us-marketers/#respondMon, 19 Mar 2018 04:01:46 +0000http://curatti.com/?p=12669Have you heard of GDPR? Well if your business holds any Data on residents of European Union countries, you had better start reading soon. You are affected and must take steps to be compliant. What Marketers Need to Know Let’s start with the key points before going into any details. Here are some high-level bullet points:

Have you heard of GDPR? Well if your business holds any Data on residents of European Union countries, you had better start reading soon. You are affected and must take steps to be compliant.

What Marketers Need to Know

Let’s start with the key points before going into any details.

Here are some high-level bullet points:

Transparency is key when it comes to data collection and usage

For more unconventional means of data collection, such as voice recognition technologies, the need for transparency might even be greater

Companies should give customers data usage options that combine personalization and privacy to various degrees

U.S. marketers who deal with EU customers will have to provide specific instructions to consumers on how to give consent to their data being used

The financial and medical industries will be the most scrutinized since the data collected in those sectors are deemed extremely sensitive

U.S. businesses will have 72 hours to report data breaches to a regulator or must pay a fine equaling 2% of their global revenue

Not complying could significantly impact a business’s bottom line

What US-Based Businesses Need To Know About GDPR

May 25th marks the deadline for General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance. From that date, any companies processing personal data of European residents need to comply with GDPR’s new standard for consumer data rights. Failure to do so puts them (and perhaps you?) at risk of stiff penalties.

In response to GDPR, many businesses are wasting no time changing policies and infrastructure to ensure compliance. In addition to GDPR compliance being mandatory for all 28 EU member states, the impact of it on U.S. businesses and marketers is notable.

According to an Ovum report, 85% of American companies view themselves at a disadvantage to European companies regarding GDPR compliance. Most U.S. marketing companies process the personal data of European residents visiting their websites and browsing their products. Even if a business’ market is predominantly not in Europe, GDPR compliance is necessary.

Marketing and consumer data go hand-in-hand, helping marketers optimize their time and resources through increased personalization and a firm grasp of market trends. As a result, GDPR’s impact on the handling of consumer data will have a major impact on U.S. companies and their data strategies.

Call for Greater Transparency

U.S. marketers are embracing greater transparency in telling users what data they have and how they use that data. For example, Google lets users switch on and off certain data tracking, such as videos watched, location and search history.

Google CMO Lorraine Twohill regards greater transparency with customer data as good business sense. All the more so with the looming GDPR compliance deadline. Many U.S. businesses remain unsure of how and if they will be fined for specific infractions. Therefore, taking a practical approach to enabling more user control of data tracking is prudent.

The sheer publicity of GDPR will likely prompt U.S. and European users alike to ask questions of their social media platforms, email providers and general websites regarding what data they store and how they use that data. As a result, companies like Google that take a proactive approach are trying to stay ahead of the curve. For U.S. marketers, being transparent regarding data collection and usage is similarly practical.

Emerging Forms of Data Collection

As voice recognition technology continues to become more prevalent in aspects like digital assistants, marketers have interest in data collection for voice and video. While consumers may anticipate their browsing history on certain websites to be part of data collection, they may not be aware of marketers capturing voice data in data mapping efforts. As a result, it’s likely that U.S. marketers will include prominent disclaimers when collecting data – especially when it’s beyond conventional means.

GDPR will likely prompt more consumers to ask in detail about their data usage and which companies have access to that data, especially since the U.S. has lax data collection laws compared to the EU. GDPR may serve as a wake-up call to U.S. consumers regarding how stingy they should be with marketers collecting their data. In response, U.S. marketers should place visible emphasis on transparency.

Consumer Privacy Value Exchange

U.S. marketers will work to decide the proper threshold for a personalized experience against how much data users are willing to provide. Personalization is only possible with sophisticated data usage. However, some consumers may understandably be wary of sharing such data. As a result, giving users an option between personalization, privacy and somewhere in between is logical.

A user opt-in that results in a more personalized experience is akin to a value exchange. Providing users receive a better experience in exchange for their data, may be construed by some as a win-win situation.

A Widespread — Though Not Entirely Comprehensive — Impact

GDPR will impact a strong amount of U.S. marketers, though not all of them need be concerned.

Specifically, if an English-language website is written for U.S. consumers or B2B customers, without referencing EU users and customers or providing a viable way for EU users to process payment, then GDPR does not apply.

However, marketers doing work for brands that aren’t too focused on geographical specificity should pay close attention to GDPR. For example, U.S.-based travel, software services, hospitality and eCommerce companies may express that they cater to a clientele beyond the U.S. in their online presence and approach.

As a result, U.S. companies need to pay close attention to the wording on their website. If they are catering solely to U.S. customers, then they are likely to strive hard to say as much. Restricting payments from users outside the U.S. is another logical method to remain outside of GDPR’s scope.

U.S. marketers who deal with EU customers must provide specific instruction to acquire consumer consent. Per the GDPR, this must be “freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous.” A company will have to clearly inform EU users what they are doing with their data. There may be no burying of details in a bunch of legalese in small text.

Whether a marketer is using data for email promotions or sharing with a third-party, GDPR requires transparency in requesting permission from the user to collect and use that data in such a way. Fortunately, many marketers already follow existing data security standards like ISO 27001 and NIST. Compiance with either of these will make following the GDPR more of a continuation than something entirely new.

Data Sensitivity

The GDPR does not treat all data types as the same. Certainly, it makes sense that someone’s age is less sensitive than medical or financial data. Specifically, medical businesses like hospitals must take caution when choosing to use customer data in marketing efforts. GDPR views medical and financial information as very sensitive, as well it should.

Medical or financial information regarding children is particularly sensitive. This must require notification to an EU regulator or authority within 72 hours. Information that is high risk to property and privacy rights, such as an account password or credit card number, also requires notification.

Penalty Enforcement

U.S. marketers have numerous questions about how the EU will impose penalties on U.S. companies. Hefty fines seem certain.

If a U.S. business does not report a data breach to a regulator within 72 hours, they must pay 2% of global revenue.

Not complying with GDPR can result in substantial fines and negative press, impacting a business’s bottom line significantly. U.S. marketers should show caution with GDPR looming.

Notifying customers of their data usage is a prudent response, as is providing them an option based on a privacy value exchange.

Certainly, some U.S. companies may have to adjust website wording, marketing, and Data collection strategy. However, for those not leaving things to chance, their businesses will proceed without ant adverse impact.

Over To You

Have you done anything to make your business GDPR compliant? Do you have any simple pointers you can impart to your fellow readers? Please leave them in the comments section, below.

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]]>http://curatti.com/gdpr-will-affect-us-marketers/feed/0126695 Compelling Reasons to Outsource Your Content Creationhttp://curatti.com/5-reasons-outsource-content-creation/
http://curatti.com/5-reasons-outsource-content-creation/#respondThu, 15 Mar 2018 04:01:59 +0000http://curatti.com/?p=12739Whatever your business or industry, staying competitive means establishing a strong online presence that will help you build brand awareness and reach your target market. Your digital marketing strategy should involve content marketing that is all about bringing the right people to you. The value of content marketing is unquestionable. In fact, according to Social

Whatever your business or industry, staying competitive means establishing a strong online presence that will help you build brand awareness and reach your target market. Your digital marketing strategy should involve content marketing that is all about bringing the right people to you.

The value of content marketing is unquestionable. In fact, according to Social Media Today, more than 70% of marketers can demonstrate how content marketing increased engagement and leads. But while we can’t argue that content marketing is essential to any marketing strategy, the problem lies in content creation.

Quality content takes effort to develop, and producing content consistently demands time. For these reasons, many companies have decided to outsource content creation. Here are 5 reasons why outsourcing content creation might be right for you:

1. You Don’t Have Time

Developing content is time-consuming. It requires you to conduct research and craft a quality post. While business owners know how important it is to publish new content consistently, they simply don’t have the time to create content and run their business.

2. Consistent Content Creation

Lack of time and resources can result in content not getting published as often as it should. A solid content marketing strategy involves a content calendar. If you’re not following your schedule and content is posted sporadically, your audiences may lose interest and stop paying attention. When you outsource your content creation, you will enjoy a steady flow of material, regardless of your other commitments.

3. Subject Matter and Industry Expertise

When you hire a content creation service, you’re receiving highly relevant, well-researched, and professionally written articles. Content services typically have a team of copywriters who specialize in specific industries. As subject matter experts, they would produce high-quality content that is engaging and informative and written from the point-of-view of someone well-versed on the topic.

4. You’re Not Confident About Your Writing Abilities

Entrepreneurs aren’t automatically incredible writers. If you’re not confident about your writing skills or fear you’ll make spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, it’s best if you leave the content writing to the specialists.

Typos and bad grammar can ruin your brand image. Experienced content creators can help you maintain the quality of your website and brand voice by producing superior content that follows your brand’s unique tone and style. Because content creation services are experts at what they do, they won’t deliver content that hasn’t gone through plagiarism software, spell checks, and other measures to ensure quality.

5. Cheaper Than Hiring an In-house Writer

You might consider hiring a full-time in-house writer to fulfill your content creation needs. However, an in-house copywriter will cost you more than it would to pay a content creation company for their services. Also, one full-time writer would only gain you the expertise, skills, and knowledge of a single person. A content creation service, on the other hand, gives you access to broader knowledge and multiple perspectives.

Can We Help?

At Curatti, our professional copywriters will help you plan your content strategy, write the blog posts, and even publish them on your website.

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]]>http://curatti.com/5-reasons-outsource-content-creation/feed/012739How To Create Visual Content That Builds Empathy With Your Brandhttp://curatti.com/create-visual-content-builds-empathy-brand/
http://curatti.com/create-visual-content-builds-empathy-brand/#commentsWed, 14 Mar 2018 04:01:05 +0000http://curatti.com/?p=12618“Good politics starts with empathy, proceeds to analysis, then sets out values and establishes the vision, before getting to the nitty-gritty of policy solutions.” ~David Miliband via bqotd.com It’s the same for business… It all starts with building empathy, or in other words, understanding and compassion. And that, in turn, starts with building common ties

“Good politics starts with empathy, proceeds to analysis, then sets out values and establishes the vision, before getting to the nitty-gritty of policy solutions.”
~David Miliband via bqotd.com

It’s the same for business… It all starts with building empathy, or in other words, understanding and compassion. And that, in turn, starts with building common ties between your customers and your brand which will later become the foundation of your further relationship.

Empathy is feeling with people, Dr. Brené Brown says in her YouTube video on Empathy. Empathy fuels connection… Empathy is the first step to drawing people to your brand, getting them relate to its message, understanding it and wanting to get involved.

What makes something better is connection,
~Dr. Brené Brown

So, when trying to build empathy with your brand, you must put yourself in your audience’s shoes to feel and understand their struggles, in order to be able to come up with the best solutions.

Why Visuals?

Visual content involves the use of colors and themes that match your brand message. And doing so to positively influence the way your audience see and interact with your brand.

It holds an exceptional appeal, as it draws your audience in and enables them to understand and feel your passion and commitment to the services you deliver. For instance, with visuals, you can showcase the professionals you work with and how your product or services help solve problems.

Creating visual content, rather than just text, can help build empathy with your audience and enhance your written content. It’s a powerful strategy for both B2C and B2B marketing that enables you to create a genuine emotional bond with your target audience with powerful, illustrative images, videos, and infographics.

Ideas & Examples of Emphatic Visual Content

Several businesses and organization use empathic visual content to build empathy and enhance their audience’s engagement with their brand. Let’s learn from the best examples!

Most people on social media just like the updates and move on, without really engaging or understanding the motive behind the contents. The Liking Isn’t Helping campaign utilized a series of shocking images designed with Photoshop, to illustrate how social media liking and sharing doesn’t influence or contribute to causes.

Humanize and Tell Stories!

The Shelter Project is an organization that finds suitable homes for stray animals. They showcase their animals as relatable characters to enable people to love and adopt them.

They utilize powerful storytelling techniques to narrate what the animals think. These stories include what Hamilton the pug has to say about his new owners and what Maru the cat thought when she first saw her new parent.

The shelter also has an active Youtube vlog filled with wonderful stories of successful pet adoptions. Furthermore, the brand utilizes the beautiful faces of the pets in their brochures and other communication.

Take Advantage of User-Generated Content

Nothing speaks to the brand’s advantage better than its audience itself. If you listen to your customers and are willing to give them a voice, they will become your loyal promoters.

Cocoweb is a great example of putting user-generated content to good use. They encourage their customers to submit their designs and use the content on their social media accounts.

This effort results in real non-staged pictures featuring real people and real designs:

[Cocoweb puts their customers’ designs in the spotlight and gives them exposure to create empathic content and get customers’ support in spreading the word]

Use Humor

JetBlue created a series of funny flight etiquette videos. These spotlight some of the most pervasive problems people encounter when traveling, such as chatty seat-mates and overzealous flight boarding. The videos were also given sarcastic titles starting with “How NOT to,” to showcase the video’s humor and JetBlue’s brand.

Empathic Visual Marketing Tools!

OK. So we’ve discussed why empathic visual content is a good idea and given a few examples of how to do it right. Now let’s list a few tools to help you go ahead and start creating effective visuals!

Find Breath-Taking Images at Unsplash

Even if you cannot afford an in-house photographer, you can still create compelling visuals. Sometimes you’ll have to pay to use stock photography. In other cases, you’ll need to give credit to the photographer for creative commons images. When using online photos, always pay attention to the license details. They always clearly state how you can use the image. In most cases, you will be able to do one of the following:

Use the image for free, as it is, giving the credit to the photographer

Use the image for free and even edit it as you like (credit to the photographer is optional)

Pay for (non-)commercial use (Unless you intend to use the image to advertise your product, no need to pay extra for the commercial use).

Look for those details prior to using any picture from the sites below:

[It’s also a good habit to keep a record of all source files (together with license info) you are using on-site or throughout social media. In case of any misunderstanding with the (new) right-holder, you will always be able to justify your photo usage.]

Of all image sources out there (and I’ve seen and tried a lot!), I find Unsplash the most empathic. The photographers here are outstanding and simply checking the daily featured photos will get your creative juices flowing!

Create with Canva

There can be no visual marketing article without Canva included, can there? The freemium platform offering a variety of templates for every channel you can think of. Create pinnable or tweetable images, thumbnails for your videos, visual updates for your Instagram account and so much more!

It’s free unless you want more: The PRO account has some nice collaboration features for your team to join the process and it also lets you create your brand identity and cross-manage it through all your visual marketing channels.

Analyze with Cyfe

To carry out a successful marketing campaign, you must create visuals that are driven by empathy, and engaging and informative, which can help create a strong connection with your audience.

So how to match your visual content with your audience’s needs and struggles?

Use analytics! Cyfe allows you to monitor your own analytics from multiple channels at a time, including Instagram, Google Analytics, Pinterest, Facebook, etc. On top of that, you can monitor your competitors on social media to spy on them and develop their ideas.

In conclusion

When creating visual content for your brand, make sure that it represents your brand message accurately and is related to other content on your website. Your visual content should also be memorable and enhance the other type of content you have created.

Are you interested in building empathy with your brand? Then you should start focusing on creating engaging visual content, in the form of pictures, videos, and infographics. Or, are you using visual contents already? We would love to hear your strategy.

]]>http://curatti.com/create-visual-content-builds-empathy-brand/feed/21261812 Marketing Tools To Elevate Your Business To The Next Levelhttp://curatti.com/12-marketing-tools-elevate-biz/
http://curatti.com/12-marketing-tools-elevate-biz/#commentsTue, 13 Mar 2018 04:01:52 +0000http://curatti.com/?p=12603Ever since businesses have gone online and conducted digitally, the number of marketing tools have risen exponentially. Today, there are so many of them – each with distinct functionality – that marketers find it difficult to select the most appropriate ones according to their needs. With the internet and social media in full blow, you

Ever since businesses have gone online and conducted digitally, the number of marketing tools have risen exponentially. Today, there are so many of them – each with distinct functionality – that marketers find it difficult to select the most appropriate ones according to their needs.

With the internet and social media in full blow, you need the tools that can tap your full potential and immensely aid your business. These can be potent enough to effectively leverage the power of social media as well as make good use of media marketing advancements. You need tools that can help you achieve your goals and scale your business much faster – tools that can provide you with a competitive edge over others.

12 Important Marketing Tools

Here is a list of excellent online marketing tools, each of which can aid the success of your business:

1. Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest is a comprehensive keyword suggestion and optimization tool. It is a research tool that quickly generates a plethora of keywords in response to any words you type in the field. Ubersuggest works equally well whether you want to rank your website on SERPs or do a PPC campaign.

It helps you with finding and researching keywords, gauging their monthly searches and also determining how difficult the keyword is to outrank (SEO) or outperform (PPC) your competitors. Moreover, you can also see what your competitors are doing in relations to a specific keyword. For example, are they ranking organically or doing PPC?. Finally, the tool is completely free!

Why Ubersuggest?

Free (unlike Moz, Ahrefs, Majestic, Semrush, etc.)

Fetches info from Google Analytics and Webmasters tools without the need to log in

SEO functionalities (who else ranks for these keywords)

Competitors’ intelligence (are your competitors going for an SEO or PPC approach on a specific keyword?)

2. Sentione

Sentione is a powerful social media tool that allows you to monitor your brand name on the web. In order to gauge your brand’s popularity, you need to tune into conversations around it across the internet. Sentione does just that by leveraging social networks, forums, blogs, online portals, opinion aggregators, photos and videos, etc. Well, why should you monitor your name?

It is an essential activity every business should do. You need to stay on top of all your mentions, both positive and negative. If you get a negative mention in any forum, you must know it so that you can do something about it as soon as possible. Sentione is helpful in finding leads and other business opportunities by using keywords that your audience uses. It also keeps track of industry news and trends.

Why Sentione?

Provides data-driven insights to make the right decisions

Manages your reputation online

Verifies your online activities to uplift performance

Listens to online discussions pertaining to your brand

3. Clickmeeting

Clickmeeting is a browser-based web conferencing tool that has powerful features designed to make online meetings and webinars extremely productive. It connects people irrespective of their location, operating system, or time zone. It is therefore perfect for businesses with team members based in remote areas.

Presenters and attendees can collaborate in various activities such as presentation, sharing of YouTube videos and live demos. Some of the features of Clickmeeting include:

Audio & video conferencing

Moderated and private chat

Simultaneous chat translation

Desktop sharing, one-click recording

Tests

Surveys

Why Clickmeeting?

Reach out to millions of people to promote your product or service

Increases lead generation and enhance business sales

Creates online buzz for your brand

Helps give online training to your agents and staff

4. Leadfeeder

Leadfeeder is a cloud-based sales management, lead generation and analytics tool that helps you in finding additional information about the visitors coming to your website. A comprehensive tool, Leadfeeder is particularly suited for B2B users. It integrates with your Google Analytics, your email provider and your CRM. It gives you a strategic dataset that your business can use in support of your sales drive.

Using Leadfeeder, you get automatic email notifications when one of your target companies visits your website. This enables you to schedule timely follow-ups. It provides in-app chat and email support to answer all your queries promptly.

Be aware, however, that if you don’t have a lot of traffic, Leadfeeder can’t generate that many new leads.

Why Leadfeeder?

Connects with Google Analytics

Access the last 30 days of leads for free

LinkedIn connection

Leads to your CRM

Versatile filtering

5. Cyfe

Cyfe is a comprehensive all-in-one dashboard tool that helps you monitor and analyze Data scattered across all of your online services such as Google Analytics and Salesforce. Cyfe offers intelligent and robust dashboards to your support team and clients, helping you to observe the full spectrum of your business trends. It helps you track the progress of your online marketing by providing you with detailed reports while saving and organizing your analysis results.

Cyfe is available for $19/month, plus you can get 20% of your membership by referring it to others. Being highly versatile, it helps you in all areas of your digital marketing: SEO, AdWords, Google Analytics and even brand mentions.

Why Cyfe?

Scyfe easily monitors everything including individual departments

It allows PDF/CSV exports

It contains pre-built widgets that help you collect data

6. MailChimp

MailChimp is a popular web-based email marketing service that helps you to:

Create email newsletters

Share them on social media channels

Integrate with services you already use

Track your results.

Email marketing is used by more than 80% of B2B and B2C companies; so MailChimp can handle large volumes of emails for big businesses and organizations. This platform enables you to:

Manage subscribers

Generate custom reports

View click-through and success rates

Track your emails

Ensure full transparency of campaigns

The free package includes key features including the ability of access to marketing automation tools.

Why MailChimp?

Compatible with various email readers and devices

Divides your lists into groups

Provides spam filter diagnostics

It gives greater deliverability

Adherence to privacy laws

7. CallRail

CallRail is a complete and extensive call tracking solution for data-driven marketers. It tracks and measures call conversions from search, offline and digital marketing campaigns, including PPC keywords. It’s an easy-to-use cloud platform that helps you discover which marketing campaigns and search keywords are driving valuable phone calls.

CallRail was recently named as one of the top 10 fastest growing companies in Atlanta by the Atlanta Business Chronicle. This tool is changing the way marketing agencies prove results for their clients. CallRail’s interactive dashboard shows how many calls you receive from each of your campaigns, helping you make better marketing decisions.

Why CallRail?

It is easier to identify the web pages that deliver the most phone calls.

The tool provides valuable feedback to your sales reps

Helps assess the quality of your marketing campaigns

Evaluates service levels to ensure that your customers are getting the high-quality support that builds loyalty.

8. Textbroker

Textbroker is an article and content writing service that hires independent writers to write unique quality content. This service is accredited by the Better Business Bureau and is the member of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce.

Textbroker does all the administration work for you as it has hundreds of client orders known as OpenOrders. OpenOrders are sent to a pool of authors who are qualified at the level of quality the client requires. There is no limit to the number of articles you can write each day. The main benefit of Textbroker is it ensures that only quality content is being produced.

9. Wideo

Wideo is an online animation tool for creating unique professional marketing videos effortlessly. It can be highly beneficial for you if you are using video blogging for promoting your content, product or service.

You can also create awesome videos for tutorials and demos for your blogs. If you are using YouTube for promoting your business, you need to produce unique and stunning videos for your audience. This is where Wideo comes to your rescue even if you are not a professional video editor. It helps you by providing a Powerpoint presentation, where you can make changes in a drag and drop manner. The videos that you create from scratch can be saved as templates in your Wideo library and be used later on for branding.

Why Wideo?

Easy to learn video editing tool

Great selection audio, templates, fonts and objects

Special packages for teams

Interactive elements (clickable buttons & contact forms)

10. LiveChat

LiveChat is a robust tool that is designed to keep things very simple and easy to use for your online marketing, web analytics and live support requirements. As the name suggests, it enables you to interact with your clients and prospective customers directly in their websites and in real time.

The main elements of LiveChat include a web-based chat window and a web-based control panel.

It also offers real-time website traffic and efficiency reports. With the help of this tool, you can get rid of super long queues and impress your customers with quick response and answers.

Spell checks in real-time using suggestions and custom dictionary support

11. App Annie

App Annie is an impressive brand in mobile market intelligence and app analytics. It provides you with valuable insights as to what is ranking in app stores, what keyword apps your competitors use and other important statistics you may need to know for your own mobile application.

The keywords your competitors are using could be the real search terms that users use. So how can you do it with App Annie? Create at least 3 groups of keywords: main keywords, competitors’ keywords, and long tail keywords with identifiers. This will enable you to keep an eye on the ranks of different apps and give you a clear sense of where you stand in a given market.

Why App Annie?

You can store statistics and market intelligence

You can optimize your app’s store page with the most sought-after keywords

It gives you insights into how your app and ads are performing

You can aggregate store, ad platform and in-app usage data

12. Marketo

Marketo is a leading marketing automation platform. It easily simplifies your marketing process and streamlines many marketing related tasks to improve efficiency and garner more revenue. It is focused on attracting and engaging leads and moving them through the sales funnel. And the sales funnel is in turn designed to allow high-level user customization. Marketo is quick and easy to set up and has an exceptional integration with Salesforce. Combining your existing programs with Marketo ensures that you can track your efforts across all aspects of your business.

Why Marketo?

You can track, score and nurture leads from your CRM

You can measure the effectiveness of your marketing programs

And you can simplify marketing management and real-time personalization

It has a diverse pricing options

You can personalize messages across channels

In Conclusion

In this competitive age, you need to have a sound digital marketing strategy in place in order to excel. The rise of social media has provided immense opportunities and countless tools to market your products or services. However, selecting the most effective ones consumes a lot of your time and energy. We hope the above-mentioned tools will help you with that.

Have Your Say

Have you ever used any of these tools? If so, did they help you, as advertised? If you prefer a competitor to any of the above, please tell us the tool and why you like it better. Anything you can add to the conversation will be greatly appreciated.

]]>http://curatti.com/12-marketing-tools-elevate-biz/feed/212603What is More Important? Productivity or Efficiency?http://curatti.com/productivity-v-efficiency/
http://curatti.com/productivity-v-efficiency/#respondMon, 12 Mar 2018 04:01:21 +0000http://curatti.com/?p=12701An interesting question from Daniel Newman. And a thought-provoking article. Is Productivity more important than Efficiency? It is another in our “Great Articles You may have missed” series… Productivity Vs. Efficiency Would you rather do the same with less, or do more with the same? That’s the conundrum presented in a recent Harvard Business Review (HBR) article,

I’d venture to say most of us don’t really know the difference between productivity and efficiency. And according to the article, that’s probably why many of us aren’t experiencing as much growth as we’d like in our companies.

What Is The Difference Between Productivity and Efficiency?

First, let’s differentiate between productivity and efficiency.

On the surface, they sound pretty similar. After all, productive people are efficient, right? And efficiency makes people more productive. But there is a fine degree of difference—and that’s where the key to success lies. At least according to the article.

When we focus on efficiency, we focus on doing the same process while using less time, money, or energy. Digital transformation has contributed hugely to increased efficiencies in every industry. Machine learning and digital automation save millions of man hours every day. That translates to saved time and money throughout the entire business world.

Productivity, on the other hand, means doing more with the same—creating more value with the same amount of manpower, money, and effort. It means adding value to those saved hours, and investing saved money into things that will grow the business.

The HBR article argues that you can never grow your company simply by running a tight ship. Says the author:

“Without top-line growth, continuing to wring out greater profits through efficiency has become the managerial equivalent of attempting to squeeze blood from a stone.”

In other words, it’s only when you create more and better products that your business can expand and grow.

If this feels like a case of “tomato vs. tomahto,” give it a minute. If we’re already utilizing new technologies in the digital transformation, that means we’re already saving time and money. So, the question is: what’s filling the time that is saved? And where are we spending that money? That’s where the productivity issues come in.

The HBR Takeaways

Right now, the article argues that companies simply haven’t caught up with using that gifted time and savings productively. For one, organizations themselves aren’t yet structured to make the most of it. They estimate more than 20 percent of every company’s “productive capacity” is lost due to “organizational drag.” That’s more than a day a week! Legacy companies, especially, are likely finding this to be a huge problem in making productivity a priority.

The article also suggests that most people have “huge amounts of discretionary energy” that they could put into their work—but don’t. Either they aren’t inspired, they aren’t motivated, or they don’t see the point of making the extra effort. Again, it comes down to leadership and culture—creating a company that values growth and innovation from every layer of the workforce.

Why does it really matter?

HBR estimates that companies that focus on productivity are 40 percent more productive than the rest of us. That translates to huge sales, profit margins, and growth—a clear win in a quickly changing digital age.

My Takeaways

While I think the HBR article has some great points, I do want to offer a few caveats. In the digital transformation, the quest for efficiency cannot be abandoned. It would be a huge mistake to stop trying to find better, smarter, faster ways to work. However, as one writer notes, “a resource standing idle is a waste.” I agree that we need to fill those efficiencies with productive, creative, purposeful work.

I also think it’s critical that companies continue to focus on culture and building both efficiency and productivity into employees’ mindsets. How do the two fit into our company mission and vision? If we have spare time, what solutions do we need to focus on? Where are we trying to go, and how quickly and intelligently do we want to get there?

In that sense, I’d argue that while productivity is, in fact, important to growing business, the digital transformation calls for much greater leadership and vision for companies to be successful. While it might be true that the most productive companies are 40 percent more productive, I’d argue that there are other factors contributing to that success. I’m betting those businesses have strong leaders, a clear and inspiring mission, a strong digital strategy, and a culture that promotes innovation and contribution from all. Oh, and I’m also certain they are using the right advanced technology to help them achieve their goals.

What Do You Think?

The Curatti editorial viewpoint is that for smallest companies, it will be difficult at this point to notice either freed up time or lowering of costs. However, there are lessons to be learned from both the HBR article and Dan’s analysis of it.

Have you pondered this question either previously or having read this article? Please share your thoughts in the comments section, below.

]]>http://curatti.com/productivity-v-efficiency/feed/012701Why You Should Consider Outsourcing Your Contenthttp://curatti.com/consider-outsourcing-content/
http://curatti.com/consider-outsourcing-content/#commentsThu, 08 Mar 2018 05:01:00 +0000http://curatti.com/?p=12681Should you consider outsourcing your content? There may be any number of factors that can help you to decide. And the same factors could (or should) also be applied to your: Lead Generation Social Media Scheduling Social Media Strategy and Management SEO Any other aspect of your business that an expert may be able to

Any other aspect of your business that an expert may be able to do better

In this article, we’ll look into some of them and discuss the balancing act most companies face in making these decisions.

The main focus of this article is Content Creation. But you can’t make this decision in a vacuum.

Quick disclaimer: This article presumes you are entirely familiar with Content Marketing. So there will be no statistics trying to convince you of its importance. If this presumption is wrong, this article by Content Marketing Institute would be as good a place as any to start.

We’ll start with a simple question:

How Long Does An Article Take To Write?

This statistic is almost like asking “how long is a piece of string,” or “how many holes would it take to fill the Albert Hall?” It takes no account of article length or complexity. However, from my own perspective, I can make the following observations:

For some articles, the author will already have sufficient knowledge that it can burst out of them in a hurry. This stat will be lowered in these instances.

Where more research is required, such as for the writing of this article, that average will be increased.

In general, as almost every subject has been written about so many times, it is now more difficult to write a compelling article. Striving for the unique angle – for all but the most talented writers – certainly adds to the upward movement of this stat.

Counter-intuitively, for those who aren’t experienced writers, the longer the article, the more time each word takes to write.

How Much Time Do You Have?

It has long-since been established that Content is an essential part of any marketing strategy. However, as with so many things, you must decide how best to utilize your time – or that of your staff if you have any.

Let’s set out a hypothetical strategy here:

You decide to go with two articles a week

You decide on an article length in the 1000 or so word range for all except one monthly downloadable

This could easily cost you 35+ hours per month, just for the twice-weekly articles

That’s not much less than a quarter of a traditional work month.

If you’re doing this alone, or as a part of a very small team, you’re not working 40 hours a week except in your future fantasies. But content creation goes squarely in the same bucket as Social Media posting and engagement. Each are essential parts of an Inbound strategy and the establishment of both thought leadership and influence. Yet neither directly pertains to sales.

Deciding What You Do and What You Might Have Others Do

There is a little (or not so little) balancing act to perform. And it doesn’t only pertain to small companies. I previously worked for quite a few very large companies. Few ever ran their own payroll, for example. They determined, via a cost-benefit analysis, that this one service was better handled elsewhere – by a firm that specializes in Payroll (usually ADP).

The smaller the company, the bigger the balancing act…

We must determine how much of a team member’s time (or our own time) can be spared for every individual element of our business.

Well, almost all.

The business of closing sales is surely off the table for most?

Decisions on Product or Services development will always be internal. Those are the life-blood of your company’s future.

Let’s add much of the client retention process to those tasks that will remain in-house.

“Much of” but not all? Well, social customer service falls under that general umbrella, but if we require constant monitoring of our many channels, we simply can’t do that all ourselves.

That leaves any number of other tasks open for possible delegation to an outside specialist.

External Help

Let’s surmise that few small companies have sufficient in-house knowledge to handle website design, UX design, some site changes or SEO. For most, those tasks are given to specialists. The type of specialist that it makes no sense for a small company to hire as an employee unless their business involves one or more of those skills.

Also, as stated above, if you need round-the-clock coverage of your social networks, it’s impossible to do that yourself.

And of course, anything you can trust that someone could do a great job for $5 or so at Fiverr or elsewhere, is clearly sensible to delegate externally. Unless you like not sleeping, that is!

If you don’t have a full-time employee with time to sit and twiddle their thumbs, items that can be done effectively and cheaper by someone else should be given to someone else.

Tasks For Your VA

Tweet scheduling is a strong candidate for VA work. The reason is simple enough. Hopefully, that person is costing you less per hour than your employees, if you have any. If your company is just a couple or so principals, definitely delegate this task. Not because it’s so difficult, but because perhaps, the time taken to do it is time taken away from sales strategy and this is one area where your expertise can be done without?

Social Media interactions on some platforms are also a strong candidate. Not if you have few followers, of course. But thanking people for retweets is not something that too many business owners will handle themselves.

Where Does Content Come Into The Mix?

No doubt you could rattle off a few other names of people who obviously do their own writing. But the truth is, not every business owner or thought leader has the time, inclination and aptitude to express their thoughts in long form.

Might some have an employee write for them? No doubt. But others will simply impart some ideas for an article, and pay for someone else to turn those ideas into a blog post.

The main point to be made here is that there is no shame – and very good company – in having others write for you.

Did you notice the top two stats of Content Marketing challenges in the above slide?

Lack of time or bandwidth to create content

Not producing enough content volume or variety

And what do you make of numbers 6 and 7? Lack of budget and lack of talent!

Overall:

Creating content takes away from other things you could be doing.

Professional bloggers will optimize your content, just as Social Media specialists have expert knowledge of how best to reach your desired audience. And they will free you up to handle leads and sales.

And then there’s this quote regarding outsourcing:

“Simply put, it ultimately costs less to let experts create and execute your content. Given the reins, they can leverage their experience to produce greater results, capture more leads, analyze results, revise strategies, and, most importantly, free up your schedule to focus on your key responsibilities.”

In Conclusion

When I started writing this article, it was in my mind to discuss the concepts of Revenue Centres and Cost Centres as they might pertain to small businesses. But it was a dead end. The truth is, whether a task is a credit or a debit in your balance sheet, there are certain things that your small business can’t survive and thrive without.

Some things require particular expertise. If you are a genius who has a hard time relating to people, you’ll leave customer relations to somebody else. But that person should surely have a stake in your business. They are, in essence, your front person – the face of your business for your clients. And you can’t chop-and-change the face of your business.

Ultimately, you must decide what brings in the money. If it’s your product ideas, your public speaking, your thought leadership or anything else, that task belongs to you! With someone else handling what got you where you are today, your business will surely crumble.

But it will also crumble without the great website, content, social media presence and more. Whether it’s now or down the road, you’ll need to accept that you aren’t superman or superwoman. You can’t go it alone forever. You must trust some of the necessary aspects of your business to others.

However, know this. Others are finding themselves having to make the exact same decisions. And one of their deciding factors of who to choose for that task they must now delegate, will be the leadership and trust demonstrated in somebody’s blog. If you don’t have the time to maintain its excellence, take care of that very soon!

Over To You

I’m not expecting anyone to come forward and say they’ve entrusted their content to others. Few want to admit that. But do please tell us what tasks you have handed over to others. Did it have a positive effect on your business and/or your personal life? Please share in the comments section, below.

]]>http://curatti.com/consider-outsourcing-content/feed/112681How Multivariate Testing Can Help Improve Your Websitehttp://curatti.com/multivariate-testing-improve-website/
http://curatti.com/multivariate-testing-improve-website/#respondWed, 07 Mar 2018 05:01:31 +0000http://curatti.com/?p=12632Do you have a lot of visitors coming to your website each day? In order to convert these leads into paying customers, it’s important to understand how well your design elements are performing. This type of research can be done with two methods: A/B testing Multivariate testing A/B Testing Vs. Multivariate Testing Each one functions

Do you have a lot of visitors coming to your website each day? In order to convert these leads into paying customers, it’s important to understand how well your design elements are performing.

This type of research can be done with two methods:

A/B testing

Multivariate testing

A/B Testing Vs. Multivariate Testing

Each one functions in a unique manner to provide information on not only the entire function of your website, but also each image and element of your content.

A/B testing provides you a side by side comparison of two different versions of your existing design to find out how visitors are initially responding once they arrive. Multivariate testing is used to test various elements inside each page. Wikipedia defines the process this way:

Dramatic increases can be seen through testing different copy text, form layouts and even landing page images and background colours. However, not all elements produce the same increase in conversions, and by looking at the results from different tests, it is possible to identify those elements that consistently tend to produce the greatest increase in conversions.

The Benefits of Multivariate Testing

The various pieces such as the header, layout, icons, etc., are what make your website unique. Testing these can help you gain insights on how each affects your conversion rates. Here’s an illustration put together by Canvas Flip, which shows how this works:

Let’s say you create two versions of one headline, the content and your header image, which would produce 3 different variables. Each of the three variables then has two of its own versions — these can be further tested in different combinations. Precise testing inside each element allows you to evaluate anywhere from a few to perhaps hundreds of different variations.

A/B testing provides only three or four versions of your website. And this makes it a good tool to use for a complete website overhaul. Multivariate testing gives a more precise measurement of your conversion rates. It helps you to focus on refining and improving an existing design.

Making Testing More Efficient

In order to focus on just a few portions of your website at a time, you will need to minimize each section. This creates a double number of combinations that need to be tested. For example, you would take a look at your header images and main headline, then move onto the content in a separate test.

Keep in mind that each element has a different impact on your conversion rates. For example, the footer can be removed as a variable in order to gain more profitable results.

Before beginning the process, write down a plan of action that will include the goals you would like to achieve. These could include, for example, increased traffic, higher conversion rates or improved sales pages. Once you know this information, the process can help provide a better marketing strategy such as using higher performing multimedia content in your email campaigns.

In order to get the most accurate results, your website will need to have a large number of visitors coming in. The goal is to gain better insights into who these people are and what action(s) they are taking once they arrive. For example, testing the opt-in form on a landing page against the different elements that include your header and footer.

If this all seems too technical, then you may need to hire a website developer to perform these tests for you, but this could become very costly depending on the size of your website. The good news is there are visual website optimizer tools and plugins for WordPress available, which can produce a visual presentation of your tests.

In Closing

After you have completed testing you should be able to gain the following results:

Errors, broken links, problematic design elements

The impact of each section on how many visitors are staying and making a purchase

Which issues need to be addressed first

Improving the visitor experience and navigation

It’s important to test your website at least once a year during the slow times of your business. This will enable you to stay up to date with the latest technology and graphical elements that are the most effective for attracting more subscribers.

As you combine both your A/B testing and multivariate testing you will be able to get the best results from your website design, especially you have an online eCommerce platform.

Any Comments?

Have you used multivariate testing? Do you have any success stories you can share with your fellow readers? Please comment, below.

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]]>http://curatti.com/multivariate-testing-improve-website/feed/012632How to Write Content That People Will Read and Sharehttp://curatti.com/write-content-people-will-read-and-share/
http://curatti.com/write-content-people-will-read-and-share/#respondTue, 06 Mar 2018 05:01:32 +0000http://curatti.com/?p=12600This is one of the hottest topics of the day. How do you get people to read and share your ‘perfect’ content? In this article in our “Great Articles You may have missed” series, Shane Barker shows us how. Write Content That People Will Love to Read and Share If there’s no engagement, is your

This is one of the hottest topics of the day. How do you get people to read and share your ‘perfect’ content? In this article in our “Great Articles You may have missed” series, Shane Barker shows us how.

Write Content That People Will Love to Read and Share

If there’s no engagement, is your blog really good enough? If your perfect piece of content gets no comments or shares or likes, what do you do? Except for a little crying, of course! Most bloggers end up searching, “How to write content?”

A million dollar question indeed.

You want to know how others create content that that people love to read and share, and how you can do the same, right?

Tumblr alone has accumulated 373 million blogs from 2011 to 2017. How can your blog survive these massive numbers and get the attention you know it deserves?

Let’s try to answer this in a different way.

What kind of products do well in the industry in the long-term? Products that deliver on what they promise. Products where the packaging justifies the product and the product justifies the packaging. And of both these, combined with some good marketing skills. Voila!

That also sums up how to write content.

Some people wonder if they need to write something unconventional to get noticed. Well sure, if you can. But, the majority of you are probably looking for more a reasonable answer on how to write content. You want techniques that you can follow for any blog that will increase your readership and shares, right?

To make things easier for you, I have a foolproof list of 10 tips that I follow for my content. It works for me, and it will surely work for you.

Let’s dive into the list of steps for how to write content.

How To Write Content That People Will Love

#1: Find the Tight Topic Idea

This is one of the hardest parts of creating content, right? Finding a topic idea that people actually care about.

So how do you find the right topic idea?

Essentially, you need to do a lot of research and learn about your niche before you jump into creating content. Over time, it becomes easy. When it comes to how to write content in your niche, you must first pay attention to popular the topics in your niche.

Trending topics are your best bet because you know people already like them. Trending topics are also well-received on social media sites. And if your content is well written, chances are higher that your blog posts will be shared.

There are various tools to help you find the trending topics. Some that I use personally are BuzzSumo, Google Trends, and Feedly. These tools will give you invaluable information on the topics that are most shared. You can track them regularly to find trending content.

For example, on Feedly, all you need to do is follow your favorite publications or add topics of interest. The tool will then show you the trending articles about those topics or from those publications.

Image via Feedly

You can also go on forums and Q/A sites like Quora, Reddit, and Yahoo Answers to look for similar questions that a lot of people are asking.

You should also spend time researching your target audience. If your audience engages more with video content, add related videos to your blog posts. If your audience is young and enjoys GIFs, add more GIFs to your blog posts.

A well-written blog post has thorough research behind it. So if you’re wondering how to write content that your readers will love, invest considerable time into research.

#3: Use Catchy Subheadings

It’s been said that people don’t read blog posts, they just skim them. The attention span of humans is only 8 seconds. And if your heading and subheadings are not catchy, you’ll lose their attention before they even start reading your post.

So, when you’re writing your blog posts, remember that people won’t be reading a lot of it. People will be skimming it. They will go through your subheadings, images, and videos to get the gist of what you’ve written.

According to research, 80% of people read your headlines. While only 20% of them read the remaining content.

Check out the example of a well-written blog post on Hubspot below. Notice how the use of subheadings makes the content easy to skim through, and still gives readers the gist of what is covered.

Image via Hubspot

#4: Optimize Readability with Paragraphs and Lists

If you’re wondering how to write content that will be shared, then this is mandatory. Even if you have done your research and created excellent content, if it’s difficult to read, people won’t read it all or share it. People love to read something with space, paragraphs, and lists.

Keep these tips in mind while structuring your blog posts:

Before you start writing your content, divide your text into proper subheadings. Then structure your text and data within these.

Structure your text into multiple paragraphs and try to keep them short, (not more than 4-6 lines)

Use bulleted or numbered lists when you’re describing steps, examples, similar points, case studies, or related points. Bullet points will make your data easy to scan. It will also make your blog post look more presentable.Here’s an example.

Image via Hubspot

#5: Use Your Experience and Originality in Your Content

There are too many recycled blog post on the internet already. Do you want to add to the clutter, or do you want to write content that people will actually love?

Nothing can beat the original content.

But, of course, how often can you create original content? There are articles on literally every topic possible. Even a simple search like, “how to sit” has 38.2 million search results.

How do you create something new then? The best teacher is experienced for sure. Your experience is unique, and whatever you write from your own experience is going to be unique.

Here are some of the tips to help you create original content:

Pick Sides

Make your blog topic a debatable one. Take something you firmly believe in or disagree with and write on that. Benefits? You will justify the topic with all of your might and will end up creating original content.

Solve a Problem

If there’s any solution that you have created, this is your chance to prove it. Most of the famous “how to” blog posts are created by someone sharing a solution they have found to make your life easier. You can do the same. Add an explanatory video to your content to make it easier to understand.

For example, this blog post has a title that discusses well-known platform LinkedIn but offers a new idea.

As we read further, the author John talks about his own opinions, and what he notices on this platform. That’s a great way to build the post further.

#6: Add a Pinch of Humor and Emotion

If you’ve ever been on Facebook, you’ve noticed that the most shared and liked content is humor.

Humor wins every time. And humor is art. Unlike everything else, it can not be copied. Similarly, expressing strong emotions requires courage. And people respect when you show what you truly feel. So make sure to add a pinch of humor if you’re wondering how to write content that your readers will enjoy.

Let’s look at some examples from Medium to see how the most serious topics can have a funny or emotional aspect.

This one is a recent blog post on Mark Zuckerberg’s latest announcement. The heading is undeniably funny and the content gets even better. To take a controversial topic like this and make sense out of this with humor is quite smart.

#7: Speak to Your Readers and Add a Personal Touch

The biggest celebrities know that their best act is all about how well they connected with their audience. And the same applies to writing blog posts as well. It’s all about building the connection. But how can you do it?

Write your blog post like you are talking to the person. Make it feel like a conversation. Not like a boring newspaper article. For me, it’s far easier to write how I would talk to someone than to write in a formal tone.

For example, tell me which one of these options do you prefer?

Choice 1: I know the feeling of not getting the desired results. It’s terrible but I always find ways to improve.

Choice 2: If your efforts are not bringing you results, either improve or quit.

Which one did you like the most? I would say the first choice. It’s easy to understand, and it develops a connection between the writer and the audience.

Why is the second choice a little off-track? Because it sounds like a command or a boring dictation. Why the third choice is not right is obvious. It’s difficult to understand.

So try to write like your audience is right in front of you.

#8: Use High-Resolution Images, Audios, Videos, and Screenshots

Adding graphics to your blog posts is directly connected with how well your blog performs. According to research by Convince and Convert, having audio in your content increases results by 38.5%.

Some of my favorite posts are the ones with graphics, videos, and images. The graphics create a rich user experience and hold your interest. The graphics could be 100% related to the blog or might have minor significance in terms of context. It all depends on how wisely you use them.

The rise of podcasts and video tutorials also enhance the quality of blog content and make it easier to understand.

Social Media Examiner has engaging weekly video shows and biweekly audio podcasts. These help them to entertain, educate, and engage their loyal followers.

Image via Social Media Examiner

#9: Update Regularly

Updating your blog posts regularly is an important aspect in creating content people will like and share. People love updates. And when you’re focusing on how to write content that people love to read, you can’t miss this point.

According to research, only 55% of the bloggers update their content. The good news here is that 74% of those who update their content get better results from their blogs.

Image via Orbit Media

Especially, if you blog has a lot of associated statistics and data, it’s best to update them regularly. People are always looking for the latest information.

When it comes to updating blog posts, I always suggest going through The Backlinko blog posts. Their blogs are regularly updated with latest information and graphics. I make sure to update my blog posts whenever I find any suitable information that fits into any of my older posts.

#10: Use a Strong Call-to-Action

If you look carefully, you’ll find that most well-performing blog posts have a CTA (call-to-action). When your focus is on how to write content that is shared, adding a CTA is a must. What’s the point of getting shares if there’s no call-to-action on your post?

Here are some great examples of compelling CTAs:

Image via Nomadic Matt

Image via OkDork

Conclusion

We have discussed some of the most crucial points on how to write content that is shared. The only thing I want to add here is to keep writing. Always make sure that your content keeps getting better. And don’t be afraid to experiment.

If there is anything not mentioned above that you feel can be helpful to their fellow readers, please share in the comments section, below.

]]>http://curatti.com/write-content-people-will-read-and-share/feed/012600Stop Wasting Your Customer’s Time If You Want To Keep Themhttp://curatti.com/stop-wasting-customers-time/
http://curatti.com/stop-wasting-customers-time/#commentsMon, 05 Mar 2018 05:01:22 +0000http://curatti.com/?p=12648Putting ourselves in our customer’s shoes is the best approach to serve them best. “Imagine that you need some information. You ask for it, but nobody answers. Also consider that you had paid that brand to get such information, but they just did not do it. So, how would you feel about that?” I guess your

Putting ourselves in our customer’s shoes is the best approach to serve them best.

“Imagine that you need some information. You ask for it, but nobody answers. Also consider that you had paid that brand to get such information, but they just did not do it. So, how would you feel about that?”

I guess your face is showing the same negative expression as the audience of the Customer Service Conference in MiIan, where I asked the same question a few days ago…

Why Customers Abandon Brands

In today’s digital fast-paced world, we as customers have dramatically raised our expectations in terms of TIME.

In fact, when it comes to customer service, we want to have easy access to the information we’re looking for (self-service) and/or use digital channels to interact and get fast replies (social networks, live chat, instant messaging apps).

Consequently, the game has become pretty tough for those brands who are frustrating customers instead of responding to them in a timely and effective manner. As competitors are just one click away, the door to disloyalty is always open…

Regardless of whether you’re a small or big brand, the battleground is shifting from price to EXPERIENCE. So it’s paramount that you understand how your customer feels when they get in touch with you. This is regardless of whether s/he visits your store, your website or interacts with your support staff. Consequently, delivering consistently frictionless experiences should be your main goal in standing apart from and above your competitors, thus winning and retaining customers.

Deliver Excellent Customer Experiences [FREE online event]

I love sharing experiences online with other colleagues around the world. Even though we come from different cultures, we can learn from each other as we have the same goal – helping brands leverage customer service /experience as a key differentiator. So you can imagine how I felt when Abraham Venismach asked me to join one of the greatest CX online events of 2018, the CX Success Summit, with over 35 experts giving FREE live masterclasses, starting right this week.

]]>http://curatti.com/stop-wasting-customers-time/feed/212648Here’s Why Your Customers Don’t Care About Your Products and Serviceshttp://curatti.com/customers-dont-care-about-products-services/
http://curatti.com/customers-dont-care-about-products-services/#commentsThu, 01 Mar 2018 05:01:09 +0000http://curatti.com/?p=12633We all know that business success is not just about having the best products and services. Well beyond that, it’s not all about finding your customers. It’s about how you position your message. This is a very important article from John Jantsch, and is another in our “Great Articles You may have missed” series. Your

We all know that business success is not just about having the best products and services. Well beyond that, it’s not all about finding your customers. It’s about how you position your message. This is a very important article from John Jantsch, and is another in our “Great Articles You may have missed” series.

Your Customers Don’t Care About Your Products and Services

The title of this post isn’t meant to sound harsh as it likely sounds, hear me out.

Your small business has a product or service, you’ve perfect your pitch, and now you are ready to share your business with the world. There are just so many benefits that you can’t wait to share it with everybody you see. You make sure to put on your site sentences like:

We are the best in the business

Out team has years of experience

We won’t sleep until the job is done

Because, hey, it shows how great your business is and why people should buy from you.

Unfortunately, when a business focuses only on the “we” aspect of their business – and pretty much every business does including your competitors – the prospect is left to decide what their real problem is and how to solve it.

Here’s the cold, hard truth: nobody cares about you or what you sell. And nobody will ever care as much about what you’re selling as you do. While your business may be incredible, all your customers and prospects care about is what they want and need. And they’ll go with the business that promised them that.

The company that can articulate the problem best – wins! It’s as simple as that! It may not even be the company with the best product or service. But this is marketing and marketing is often initially about perception.

So the question is, how do you show your customers that you are the one without pointing out all of the amazing things about your business?

Solving your Customer’s Problems to Get Their Business

Before you dive into the research to discover what those problems are, it is imperative that you have a firm understanding of who your ideal client is. This is the person you are trying to reach. Without truly understanding their wants and needs, you won’t be successful in marketing to them. Make this a priority above all else as it will impact all aspects of your business.

Your job as a business owner and marketer is to understand the problems people are trying to solve and match your solutions to those specific problems. That’s it. If you can do that, you’ve won the golden ticket.

As you may know, I sell marketing consulting services, and I highly doubt that my customers wake up in the morning and think, “you know what I wish I had, some marketing consulting.”

Instead, they may end up thinking “why do I keep losing projects to XYZ Consulting and why isn’t my revenue growing?” If you’re a business owner, these types of questions likely creep up all the time.

We are so in tune with the idea of promoting what we do and talking about our solutions, but you need to remember your prospects are not. A prospect just wants to know that you understand their problems that they’re trying to solve.

It’s important to try to solve your customer’s problem early in their journey. Businessesthat build their content, web design and SEO practices around problem-solving will reach their ideal client’s buying journey at a much earlier point to do the kind of trust building that makes your solution the obvious choice.

Refocus your Message

Matching your message to your ideal client is everything when it comes to marketing these days. You’ve got about five seconds to get and keep someone’s attention and you can’t waste that precious time with a message that doesn’t connect.

Make a list of the problems you solve for the clients you help the most (you can often pick up on this in conversations you have with them). When I work with businesses, I actually ask them to make a list all of their problems and challenges for me. This helps to give me an understanding of their needs from the very beginning without any ambiguity or guessing involved.

Take that information and change your messaging so that it’s no longer about you, and instead make it all about them.

Create Trigger Phrases

Your customers don’t know how to solve their problems, but they usually know what their problems are. If you can show that what you sell is the answer to their problems they won’t care what you call your solutions, they’ll just buy it to make their pain points go away.

Break down every solution you sell, every benefit you attribute to what you do. Then map it back to a handful of what I like to call “trigger phrases.” Creating a list of trigger statements should be very high on your priority list.

For both marketers and business owners, you’ll have to do the work to create this map for your business based on

Brainstorming with your staff

Questions you find in forums

And through some planned, one-on-one time with your existing customers

A few questions you can ask your customers during that one-on-one time to get the answers you need include:

What is the biggest challenge you are facing in your business?

Why is it important that you find a solution to this challenge now?

How hard have you worked to try to solve this challenge in the past?

What about this challenge makes it so hard to solve or answer?

How hard has it been to find an answer to your challenge?

Takeaways

Using keyword research can also be extremely useful in the quest for finding what your customers are looking for as well. Keyword research has become one of the master skills now for marketers because you have to get good at understanding intent because that’s where all the data is. You just need to know where to find it.

The phrases you generate can be questions or statements or even anecdotes, but they must come from the point of view of the customer.

Create a cheat sheet of trigger phrases that signal that the person saying them needs your service.

At the end of the day, you’ve got to be successful at uncovering ways to solve your customer’s problems that no one else is even talking about solving.

Do that, and you’ll be sure to make an impact.

Have Your Say

Do you agree with the above? How have you managed to convince your target customers that you can solve their needs? Is there anything else on this topic you’d like to share?